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As the U.S. Struggles With a Stillbirth Crisis, Australia Offers a Model for How to Do Better

Duaa Eldeib

January 10, 2024 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Australia

With its focus on research and the launch of the Safer Baby Bundle, Australia is ahead of the curve in preventing stillbirths. The Safer Baby Bundle includes evidence-based practices to prevent stillbirths including helping pregnant patients quit smoking, regularly monitoring fetal growth and movement and encouraging safe pregnancy practices like sleeping on one’s side. Since the launch of these strategies, the country sees about six stillbirths a day, whereas the U.S. experiences about 60 stillbirths each day.

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They Set Out to Save Rainforests — and Could Help Prevent the Next Outbreak

Caroline Chen

March 07, 2023 |

ProPublica |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Madagascar

Health In Harmony uses a one health approach to improve both human health and the health of the environment in Madagascar at the same time. Their programs provide locals with jobs to keep them from turning to illegal logging for income, improve their access to health care, and help farmers increase their yields.

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Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?

Alec MacGillis

January 30, 2023 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Community violence intervention programs like the interrupter model and groups like Cure Violence are deploying knowledgeable people — specifically those with experience in crime and the legal system — into neighborhoods to help steer people away from gangs and violent crime. The purpose with groups like Cure Violence is to treat violent crime — like gun violence — like an epidemic, deploying those with credibility into vulnerable populations. When Cure Violence was first launched in Chicago in 2000, shootings declined by 68%.

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How to Fix America's Confusing Voting System

Aliyya Swaby Annie Waldman

September 12, 2022 |

ProPublica |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The Center for Civic Design helps states simplify ballot and registration forms to make their voting processes more accessible for people with low literacy, who are more likely to struggle with the complex language of most election materials. Such reforms have led to fewer ballots being rejected, including in New York, where a redesigned absentee ballot helped the number of rejected ballots drop from 22 percent to just 4 percent.

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Two Cities Took Different Approaches to Pandemic Court Closures. They Got Different Results.

Alec MacGillis

July 19, 2022 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wichita, Kansas

To curtail the societal ripple effects of prolonged court closures, Kansas' Sedgwick County courtrooms reopened with precautions just four months after initially shuttering due to COVID-19, and later brought in retired judges to help work through the court's backlog of cases. The Wichita court was able to perform more criminal jury trials at the height of the pandemic than other cities and actually saw homicides decline in 2021 as the nationwide murder rate climbed.

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When Dangerous Strains of Salmonella Hit, the Turkey Industry Responded Forcefully. The Chicken Industry? Not So Much.

Bernice Yeung

December 29, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The turkey and chicken industries have struggled with salmonella outbreaks that are more virulent and less responsive to antibiotics. The turkey industry responded immediately, forming a task force to study and fight the strain, vaccinating breeding flocks, setting up better barn sanitation, and making changes in processing plants to reduce cross-contamination. The chicken industry’s response has been slow and not transparent, and as a result it continues to spread and make people sick. On the other hand, 73% fewer turkeys are found to have the bacteria and reports of people getting sick have fallen by 65%.

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Burning Sugar Cane Pollutes Communities of Color in Florida. Brazil Shows There's Another Way.

Nadia Sussman

December 29, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil

In Brazil, the world's largest producer of sugar cane, industry leaders have found a way to harvest the crop without sugar cane burning. Sugar cane burning is harmful to the environment and nearby residents. After complaints and regulations, producers invested in technology that allows them to cut the cane without burning it. This is a contrast to South Florida, despite producing less sugar cane than Brazil, producers in the state continue the practice.

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This Scientist Created a Rapid Test Just Weeks Into the Pandemic. Here's Why You Still Can't Get It.

Lydia DePillis

December 21, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

E25Bio created a rapid COVID-19 test soon after the pandemic began and had an existing factory that could be repurposed to quickly manufacture tests. The prototypes, priced under $10 each, attracted major donors and would have made at-home antigen tests that identified around 80% of contagious cases available from the pandemic’s early days. Instead, an unclear FDA review process that prioritized higher detection rates over inexpensive ways people could test often, as well as resistance from medical device regulators, prevented the company from producing the tests for the public early in the pandemic.

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He Beat Her Repeatedly. Family Court Tried to Give Him Joint Custody of Their Children.

Megan O'Matz

September 16, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a leader in the movement to treat fathers as equal caregivers and to prioritize shared custody in divorces. But this fathers' rights reform, combined with outmoded ideas about women who allege domestic violence, often forces domestic violence victims to maintain frequent communication with their abusers and to turn over their children to violent former spouses for visits. Although the shared-custody law does exempt cases of serious domestic violence, advocates say the law allows large exceptions, makes proving allegations too hard, and is overseen by courts dismissive of women's allegations.

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“You Save as Long as You Have To”

Catherine Rentz

May 22, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

The first DNA database in unsolved rape cases was created at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center nearly 50 years ago by a forensic pathologist who was appalled by the callous treatment of rape victims and the impunity their attackers were granted. Dr. Rudiger Breitenecker's methodical storage of physical evidence and meticulous documentation enabled dozens of convictions, and some exonerations, decades later with the development of DNA testing. Baltimore County's use of the evidence became a model for other prosecutors and police around the country.

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